Law Note

By David Ray Try to imagine life without the Internet. Over the last half century, the dramatic growth of the Internet has fundamentally changed the way humans shop, communicate, and entertain themselves. The Internet’s one billion users make nearly six billion searches a year. The growth of the Internet has been dramatic, with usage increasing 200 percent since 2000. According to the Department of Commerce (DoC), e-commerce now accounts for over fifty-six billion dollars in retail sales annually in the United States (U.S.) alone. After providing a brief history of the Internet and a review of how the DNS operates, this paper examines a number of criticisms that have forced ICANN to confront the challenge of an increasingly hostile international community. This paper identifies several international alternatives to ICANN and evaluates their effectiveness. Ultimately this paper concludes management of the DNS by an international organization is unrealistic, inadvisable, or both. This reality necessitates a restructuring of ICANN to adequately address the international concerns surrounding the current framework.

By Ryan Crawford Summary: Advances in genetic modification techniques enable the creation of crops with commercially desirable characteristics. Recombined gene sequences may be inserted into a crop’s genome to protect it against herbicides, insects, or rodents. In the United States, a variety of patent and trade secret protections are afforded the developers of such crops and other genetically modified organisms. The scope of these protections has been interpreted more broadly over the years by the courts. This broadening of legal protections has occurred as the relationship between the developers of seed, the government, and farmers has changed from one in which seed development was largely the work of the government and academia, especially public universities and land grant colleges, to one in which seed development is increasingly privatized, or accomplished through the alliance of private and public forces.

By Lisa Wines Summary: While the use of electronic payment methods in the United States steadily increases, we still depend on paper checks more than any other industrialized nation in the world. Reliance on paper checks carries with it logistical and security limitations, which create a degree of exposure to fraud for all parties involved. As this exposure has become more apparent in recent years, Congress recently passed The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act as a step toward a fully digital payment system. While the Uniform Commercial Code governs transactions involving paper checks, electronically converted checks and substitute checks are governed by the National Automated Check Clearinghouse Operating Rules and Regulation E. When State and Federal law conflict on a check-related issue, the Act preempts the inconsistent laws.

By C. Bradford Jorgensen Summary: For those who enjoy the game of golf, whether you are brand new to the game or have been playing for years, the contents of this article will peak your curiosity and open your eyes. While the article does focus on intellectual property law and the obstacles that golf club manufactures face in the ever-changing world market, there is none of the traditional “legalese” normally found in most law articles. Instead, Mr. Jorgensen’s article is one that could easily be found in Sports Illustrated while providing a brief history of the sport and describing the evolution of the process for manufacturing golf clubs.

By Katherine E. White Summary: America’s ability to innovate at a rapid pace is an important factor in staying competitive in the global marketplace. Currently, one of the most powerful remedies available for non-manufacturing patentees and patent marketers is the injunction, which makes it possible to immediately stop an alleged infringer from its prohibited activities. Manufacturers may hinder America’s ability to innovate at a rapid pace, by trying to drastically change the patent laws to make them more favorable to patent owners who develop their inventions into products for commercial sale at the expense of those who do not. One proposed change in the patent laws would eliminate the injunction, allowing a manufacturer to continue to infringe, drag out the litigation, and pay the reasonable royalty rate if it loses the infringement suit. Monetary damages are often inadequate to compensate for infringement because the alleged infringer is able to gain market share while the litigation is pending. Without exclusive rights and the ability to define the metes and bounds of one’s invention, others would wait for an invention to take place, steal it, and use it for their own. If the injunctive power of the courts is eliminated, a leading case stated that the express purpose of the Patent Clause of the U.S. Constitution, to promote the progress of science and innovation, would be seriously undermined. Patent laws historically have been, and should continue to be, used to promote innovation and the progress of science, not manufacturing.

By Ann M. Alexander Summary: Today, one out of every four Americans searches the World Wide Web for health related information and prescription drug research. However, the number of Americans that purchase their pharmaceuticals over the internet still remains low. This note discusses the various types of internet pharmacies, the reasons patients utilize these entities, and current regulation of the industry. Allocating responsibility to both the State and Federal governments, the note suggests a solution to the problems posed by current regulation of internet pharmacies.

By Zachary M. Mattison Summary: This Note evaluates the practicality of the United States Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence in light of the crisis of the internet being used as a safe haven for terrorist communication, training, and planning. The author criticizes the modern Clear and Present Danger test and discusses the tension between the First Amendment’s significance to American society and national security concerns involving internet communication.

By Steven C. Judge Summary: The fast-emerging technology of Voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) has incited a debate over whether it should be regulated and who should be assigned the task. VoIP technology involves a blend of two industries: telephone, which has regularly been the subject of regulation, and the Internet, which has normally been left alone. The concern involved is that however the regulatory scheme is set up, it will have untold, and probably far reaching, impacts on the Internet. Too much regulation could restrict the developing technology and adversely affect the impact on the Internet, but too little could have the same adverse effect on the telephone. It is important that when determining how to regulate VoIP, that the regulatory bodies, both state and federal, look to the past mistakes made in the regulatory schemes for the telephone.

By Marc H. Greenberg Obscenity law has long been marred with inconsistencies and uncertainties, and the water has only been muddied by the advent of the technical age and the multiple legislative attempts to restrict access in public libraries. Furthermore, courts have not adequately resolved the constitutionality of much of the related legislation.

By Sheila Schwallie Summary: Some governments have already developed opinions and drafted regulations on “designer babies” as bio-technological advances are getting close to making it a reality for parents to design their babies before in vitro fertilization. In the United Kingdom, heavy regulation of sex selection has been requested while the United States has not yet voiced a unified opinion on the issue despite the increasing use of sex selection procedures.